Of Grateful Sons And Their Great Fathers!!

Ali Peter John

Amarnath Kapoor was a small-time dealer in imitation  jewellery  which he mainly supplied to filmmakers like V. Shantaram and went from studio to studio and office to office to promote his products which were in great demand at a time when most is the makers were busy making costume drama films in which the hero, the heroine, even the villain and all the character artists and those in the crowd scenes and dancing scenes had to wear jewellery of different kinds all over their bodies. Kapoor had personal contacts with all the big filmmakers.

He was always dressed in impeccable white and lived in a one-room tenement in Ramachandra Chawl near the Central cinema. He had two sons, Ravi and Prasan, who he was ambitious enough to send to the nearby St. Sebastian High School near the Charni Road railway station (the same school where Jatin Khanna who was to grow into the greatest superstar ever called Rajesh Khanna also went to).

Mr Kapoor was very proud of his son Ravi and was sure that he could make it as a star. He carried a small photograph of Ravi in his purse before leaving home every morning and showed it to the filmmakers and others he met during his rounds.

One morning, he found V. Shantaram sitting relaxed in the compound of his sprawling Rajkamal Studios and showed the photograph of Ravi. The veteran liked the boy in the photograph and asked Mr Kapoor to bring the boy with him to the studio when he came the next day. A very thrilled Mr Kapoor cut short all his other work for the day and went back home to tell Ravi and the family about the good news.

The father and son met Shantaram Bapu as he was called and he told them that the boy would have to leave for Jaipur to take part in the shooting of his film, “Sehra". Ravi was just a part of a huge crowd scene, but little did he know what was in store for him.

Shantaram Bapu was next making “Geet Gaaya Pattharone" and decided to cast Ravi as the hero and his own daughter, Rajshree as the heroine. But Shantaram Bapu did not like Ravi as the name of his hero. He gave him the name Jeetendra and with the support of Shantaram Bapu and the cooperation of Rajshree, Jeetendra could make it as a hero and then like they say there was no looking back for Jeetendra who himself claimed that he was never a great actor, but the world accepted him as one of the most popular dancers and stars. He had never forgotten what Shantaram Bapu had done for him and he proved it when he was doing several shifts in a day in the South and Shantaram Bapu's autobiography, “Shantarama was to be released at his own Plaza Theatre in Dadar. Jeetendra changed all his plans and programs for the day in the South and flew down to Bombay to be in time to the grand launch of ‘Shantarama'.

It was while he was busy as busy can be in Hyderabad that he once told me about the story of his first salary of rupees hundred and fifty which he got from Shantaram Bapu who paid all his stars and technicians a monthly salary. He said he couldn't believe that he had heard the huge amount (rupees hundred and fifty in 1963 was really a royal sum of money for a boy who till then lived in a chawl). He said he was so thrilled that he jumped over the wall of Rajkamal Studios and ran home to place his entire first salary in his father's hands and did not even want to pay the canteen manager whatever little money he had to pay him, because he wanted to have the pleasure of handing over his entire salary to his father who had drilled the ambition of becoming a star into him....

That was the beginning of a tradition. From 1963, when Jeetendra became a star till 1986 when his father died, all his financial matters were strictly taken care of by his father, whether it was the price he charged for a film, the house he bought in cozihom on Pali Hill where he had Gulzar and Raakhee as neighbours or the underground bungalow he built in the compound of Gautam Apartments, also on Pali Hill where his father, mother and brother, Prasan and their families lived and from Pali Hill Jeetendra and his family shifted to his own “Buckingham Palace like house" in Juhu and the Jeetendra success story took a new turn.

But, the tradition started by Amarnath Kapoor, it is said still continues. Jeetendra has now taken the place of his father and his children, Ekta and Tushar have to give their father an account of all the money they earn and ask him for all the money they need. Jeetendra who almost lives a retired life now attends the Balaji office only to sign cheques or to be present at some very crucial meetings where financial decisions are taken by or for the company.

I have not gone into the details of the Khan family from Galaxy Apartments. But I am told by a highly reliable sources very close to the family that not a rupee moves or changes hands for Salman Khan and his brothers without the permission of their father, Salim Khan. Even Salman's ‘Being Human' and the ‘Salman Khan Welfare Trust' work directly under the supervision and the guidance of one-time Prince and Emperor of writers, Salim Saahab.

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Tags: Bollywood, Bollywood News, Bollywood Updates, Television, Telly News, Amarnath Kapoor, V. Shantaram, Salim Khan